Stone soup and street parties
Catherine Henderson writes about community and welcome
Once there was a traveller who had been walking many days with nothing to eat but leaves and wild berries. At last she came to a village and the chieftain came to greet her. ‘You are welcome, traveller, but we can offer you nothing to eat. We are starving.’ The traveller reached into her bag and fished out a large stone. ‘Set a pot of water over the fire,’ she said, ‘and when it is boiling add this stone.’
The chieftain was puzzled, but did as the traveller said. Soon one of the villagers appeared, hollow with hunger. ‘We have nothing left but this bone. Can we share what is in the chieftain’s pot?’
‘Of course,’ said the traveller, ‘just pop your bone in the pot.’ Soon other villagers came, some with herbs, some with old withered vegetables. Everything went into the pot and soon the most wonderful smell was drifting over the village.
In the evening the whole village sat down to a meal of delicious ‘stone soup’. Next morning the traveller went on her way, leaving the stone with the villagers. And the villagers never went hungry again.
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